Most new computers purchased today come with a variety of standard software already loaded on them or the new owner stocks up soon afterwards. While you think you may not need any more software for you computer, you may be missing out on some great utilities that can may your computing time more productive or fun.

To get the best in computer utilities, try The Ultimate Collection of Winsock software, or, as it is more commonly known, TUCOWS.

While there is one main TUCOWS Website, you are redirected to the Internet server that is closest to you for the actual downloading site. The reason TUCOWS does this is that it reduces and can even eliminate Internet traffic.

As an example, the Internet provider for whom I work is a TUCOWS provider. Anyone that already uses our Internet service and downloads from our TUCOWS Website will be transferring files from the same server from which they log in to their home or work computer without actually going over the Internet. This can be substantial faster than getting the files off a distant Internet site like ZDNet's HotFiles.

TUCOWS lets you download the very best in manufacturer-authorized shareware, freeware and demonstration software. TUCOWS sites are updated daily and, for your safety, guarantees that all software on their site has been thoroughly tested and is virus-free.

In case you aren't familiar with the concept, shareware is a computer program that after a limited trial time (usually anywhere from 10 to 90 days) you are expected to send the authors their asking price for the software. While most of the time you are left to your honor to pay when the trial period is up, often shareware will now either disable itself or become severely limited in functionality if you "forget" to register it.

Demo software is the same, but is much more likely to have the shutdown feature.

The concept behind shareware and demo software is that if you like the program, then buy it, otherwise, you aren't out any money for trying it out.

Freeware is just like it sounds, free to use. Occasionally freeware authors stipulate that the software is free for only for non-commercial use and that commercial users must pay some nominal fee. It is always left up to the honor system to pay if applicable.

Once you select an operating system like Windows 95 or Macintosh at the TUCOWS site, you can choose from major categories including Browsers and Accessories, Internet Tools, Multimedia Tools, E-mail Tools, HTML Tools, Security Tools and Entertainment to name a few. Each section is packed with subcategories filled with reviews and ratings on each program distributed on the site.

Via simple menus or through direct searches, you can find online and offline Web browsers, HTML editors for all proficiency levels, e-mail and anti-spamming programs, image, sound and video viewers, file sharing applications, anti-virus scanners, parental control programs and hundreds of other useful programs to download.

With all that is available on TUCOWS, you can easily spend hours just browsing the categories and weeks downloading and installing all the great utilities you've found.